1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive weatherstrip and more particularly to a configuration of a corner portion of a door weatherstrip mounted along a peripheral flange of a door opening of an automobile to seal the door and the peripheral edge of the door opening.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art utilizes an extruded member as a weatherstrip 1 mounted along the peripheral edge of a door opening of a general automobile as shown in FIG. 1. The weatherstrip 1 includes a trim part 11 a cross-section of which is generally U-shaped to be held by a peripheral flange 30 (FIG. 4) of a door opening, a hollow seal part 12 protruding perpendicularly from one side of the trim part 11 and being pressed upon by a peripheral edge of a door 20, and a body seal lip 13 formed in a manner such that an edge of an opening side of the trim part 11 engages with the flange 30 side of the peripheral edge of the door opening, as shown in FIG. 6.
However, when the extruded member is bent along the corner portion C (FIG. 1) of the peripheral flange 30 of the door opening, the seal part 12 is irregularly deformed which causes the peripheral edge of the door 20 to have a low quality seal. Therefore, in this corner portion C, a molded member 1C is formed which connects the extruded members. As shown in FIG. 6, this connection is generally performed by placing ends 1A and 1B of each extruded members so that they meet at a substantial right angle, mounting the extruded member in the cavity of a mold wherein a core for molding a molded hollow seal part 52 is also mounted, and injecting molding materials into the cavity. After the completion of the molding, the core is pulled out. Therefore, an inevitable aperture 2 is present, through which the core is pulled out from the molded hollow seal part 52 of the molded member 1C. In the prior art, the aperture 2 is located in the inner-diameter-side of the curvature of the corner portion, and the opening of the aperture 2 must be bonded by an adhesive to close it, after the completion of the molding.
However, regarding the weatherstrip 1, when the aperture 2 for the core is closed, a sectional area of the molded hollow seal part 52 of the molded member 1C is reduced by an amount equal to the width of the aperture 2. Thus, due to the reduced sealing area, low quality seal results.
In addition, as the molded hollow seal part 52 of the molded member 1C is formed to protrude generally perpendicular from one side of the trim part and is formed with the same radius as that of the curvature of the flange 30 of the body panel, the molded hollow seal part 52 does not correspond to a shape of the corner portion having a generally right angled corner at the peripheral edge of the door, which causes a low quality seal between the seal part and the corner portion of the door.